I was reviewing the combat log from last night, where we wiped 7 times on Maegaererewhatever and then called it. More specifically, the first 3 deaths per wipe (the rest aren't important once you know you're going to lose). While I saw the usual and understandable, such as "Cinders not removed because 8 second dispel cooldowns suck" and "non-Breccia tank had a brain fart and taunted the wrong head", I also saw 4 deaths to "player was insta-killed from 100% health by Acid Rain ground zero" and 3 to "player ran behind the tank and got breathed on". I think I owe the hydra an apology. Clearly we weren't giving it the respect it deserved. And that's really the point. My raid group's going to limp embarrassed into the 20% nerf zone to get past 4/12 N because we're just not trying, and that's our fault, not the monster's.

Don't get feared into the whelps. Don't stack up for Gruul's petrify/shatter. Kill the Lich King's snowballs. Bounce the ball back at Zon'ozz. Somebody interrupt that guy. A fight just isn't memorable if it doesn't have something that you must do, or else you die horribly and it's your own damn fault. High DPS, excessive heals, and unkillable tank (I'm looking at you, DKs) are nice, but winning because you know this s#&^ cold is much more satisfying.

With alot of the stuff in this thread, I'd have to add something: Sense of progression.

We play this game to have fun and feel entertained. When we're trying to kill a new heroic boss, the fun and entertainment comes from the sense of progression. If you feel you're getting a little bit further or getting a little bit better at dealing with fight mechanics (Lei Shen), you feel a sense of progression, and thus the fight is entertaining and fun. If you continiously wipe at the same spot, or because of the same mechanics, no matter how you try to deal with it (Dark Animus), everyone gets tired and wants to do something else, because you're not progressing, and thus you're not having fun or feeling entertained.

I'm going to have to agree with this. The feeling of getting closer and closer to the end every time is great. Fights like Tortos that are the same thing over and over don't achieve this feeling because you can have a 60% wipe and a 20% wipe followed by a 50% wipe and a 95% wipe to the same mechanic. I think fights that change over time with phases, soft enrages, or added abilities aid a sense of progression because you can reach benchmark points as visible signs of progress.

However, I will disagree and say Heroic Dark Animus is fantastic, even if half our wipes are in the first 10 seconds because my 3 adds decided I didn't need any revenge procs for Sbar... It's one of those fights that requires literally perfect execution in the first phase to even have a shot at a kill, but that execution isn't so RNG dependent as to be completely unreasonable, and when RNG DOES screw you there is usually a way to work around it if you are prepared (warlock holding 2 adds gets matter swap? Have the spriest be second on threat and disperse until a tank can heroic leap across the room and taunt it for a few seconds until the lock gets back!). Stuff like that, that requires thinking AND execution, is what makes a good boss fight.

I like it when fights have mechanics that are nowhere near actually difficult, but can oneshot your raid. The only thing that pisses me off with these fights is that is always someone who cant get their mind to actually do something after making the same mistake 50 times